The Vision of Sir Launfal eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 124 pages of information about The Vision of Sir Launfal.

The Vision of Sir Launfal eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 124 pages of information about The Vision of Sir Launfal.

    An’ yit I love th’ unhighschooled way 25
      Ol’ farmers hed when I wuz younger;
    Their talk wuz meatier, an’ ’ould stay,
      While book-froth seems to whet your hunger;
    For puttin’ in a downright lick
      ‘Twixt Humbug’s eyes, ther’ ’s few can metch it. 30
    An’ then it helves my thoughts ez slick
      Ez stret-grained hickory doos a hetchet.

    But when I can’t, I can’t, thet’s all,
      For Natur’ won’t put up with gullin’;
    Idees you hev to shove an’ haul 35
      Like a druv pig ain’t wuth a mullein: 
    Live thoughts ain’t sent for; thru all rifts
      O’ sense they pour an’ resh ye onwards,
    Like rivers when south-lyin’ drifts
      Feel thet th’ old airth’s a-wheelin’ sunwards. 40

    Time wuz, the rhymes come crowdin’ thick
      Ez office-seekers arter ’lection,
    An’ into ary place ’ould stick
      Without no bother nor objection;
    But sence the war my thoughts hang back 45
      Ez though I wanted to enlist ’em,
    An’ subs’tutes—­they don’t never lack,
      But then they’ll slope afore you’ve mist ’em.

    Nothin’ don’t seem like wut it wuz;
      I can’t see wut there is to hender, 50
    An’ yit my brains jes’ go buzz, buzz,
      Like bumblebees agin a winder;
    ’Fore these times come, in all airth’s row,
      Ther’ wuz one quiet place, my head in,
    Where I could hide an’ think,—­but now 55
      It’s all one teeter, hopin’, dreadin’.

    Where’s Peace?  I start, some clear-blown night,
      When gaunt stone walls grow numb an’ number,
    An’, creakin’ ‘cross the snow-crus’ white,
      Walk the col’ starlight into summer; 60
    Up grows the moon, an’ swell by swell
      Thru the pale pasturs silvers dimmer
    Than the last smile thet strives to tell
      O’ love gone heavenward in its shimmer.

    I hev ben gladder o’ sech things, 65
      Than cocks o’ spring or bees o’ clover,
    They filled my heart with livin’ springs,
      But now they seem to freeze ’em over;
    Sights innercent ez babes on knee,
      Peaceful ez eyes o’ pastur’d cattle, 70
    Jes’ coz they be so, seem to me
      To rile me more with thoughts o’ battle.

    In-doors an’ out by spells I try;
      Ma’am Natur’ keeps her spin-wheel goin’,
    But leaves my natur’ stiff and dry 75
      Ez fiel’s o’ clover arter mowin’;
    An’ her jes’ keepin’ on the same,
      Calmer ‘n a clock, an’ never carin’,
    An’ findin’ nary thing to blame,
      Is wus than ef she took to swearin’. 80

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Vision of Sir Launfal from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.